Halloween Horror Movie Month: Fido (2006)

I don’t think as many people would have gotten on Michael Vick’s case if he had zombies fighting each other.

Set in the 1950’s, the story takes place years after a radiation cloud took over the Earth and allowed the dead to walk again (aka zombies). But a company named Zomcom has finally made it able to allow zombies to not only be servants and do all of your chores, but also be your friends in ways, too. Little Timmy Robinson (K’Sun Ray), has finally found a friend to confide in named Fido (Billy Connolly), problem is, he’s a zombie that actually threatens mankind, something my dog has yet to do.

Take a Leave it to Beaver episode, give him the dog Lassie, have it directed by George A. Romero, and this is what you may come up with. Sadly, for all of you Zombie-genre lovers out there, it’s just not quite as awesome as one would expect. But having a zombie as a pet would make for a great show-and-tell.

Basically, this is a one-joke premise but writer/director Andrew Currie milks it for all that he’s got. The whole joke behind this film is that zombies walk around as normal citizens doing normal citizen-like activities such as taking out the trash, delivering milk door-to-door, grilling some burgers on the grill during a BBQ, and even providing some twisted and sick-minded people some lovin’ at night as well. It’s an original way of telling a zombie satire and for the most part, Currie makes it work because he always plays off of these 50’s-like caricatures that have been done so many times in plenty other films, but this time just provide more humor due to the twist. I laughed a good amount during this film, which really took me by surprise since it seemed too obvious, but there were some nice touches that Currie gave this film for that ultra-retro 50’s look and feel.

But as good as funny as this may be, there’s always something here that’s left to be desired. They milk this premise just enough to make me laugh and enjoy myself, but they never go the full distance to where I was surprised at the turns they took with this story. You can tell where this story is going to go from start-to-finish, how, and why exactly it is and that was a total bummer considering this could have been a nice blend of humor that mixes itself up nice with a horror movie as well. In fact, that horror element was barely there at all because any time it seemed like the film was going to go for a full-out, zombie scare-fest, it sort of just cut it out as quick as possible and made it seem like Currie played it a bit too safe.

I wasn’t expecting to be totally scared out of my mind with this material, but to me, zombies are some of the scariest mothereffers even when it comes to horror (even if they are the oldest trick used in the book). So when a film comes around with zombies in it, regardless of how they’re used, I’m expecting to be a little scared at the fact that they’re running rampant, eating people, and spreading their virus. The problem here, is that I didn’t feel any tension whatsoever and I was barely even scared by the fact that these zombies could start to eat up this whole entire, little town of Willard (teehee).

Also, for all of you gore-loving son of a bitches out there, there’s enough of that here to satisfy your dirty needs, but even that feels a bit tamed. Yeah, there’s a couple of chewed-up limbs here and there, but nothing where I literally wanted to throw-up. I never feel like that with that when I watch horror movies, but I would always like to. That’s a real shame too, since this film is rated-R and I don’t really think that Currie would have had anything to worry about, had he gone on a bit farther with the gore-pushing.

The performances by everybody in this film was the real strong-point and I think one of the elements that entertained me the most. Carrie-Anne Moss is great as the subdued mom that starts to come out of her shell a bit and become a cool mommy, once things start to get a little twisty with her hormones. No trust me, it doesn’t go in the direction with her character that you may think but it would have been a lot more cool and twisted had it done so. Dylan Baker plays her a-hole husband, and he’s great as well playing a daddy that doesn’t seem to know how to even do the right thing for his son and can’t stop complaining about the fact that his daddy almost ate him once. Billy Connolly was also great as Fido, in a more subdued role where he has to use a lot of growling and facial expressions to really convey what his character’s intentions, even if he is just a damn zombie. That actually makes it a bit harder for him, but he still pulls it off very well. K’Sun Ray was fine as little Timmy Robinson, and doesn’t really seem to be one of those little, annoying child-actors that we usually get in movies like these. Oh yeah, and Tim Blake Nelson is here as one of those twisted and sick-minded people I mentioned earlier. That guy is always a blast to watch.

Consensus: The cast, comedy, and original premise make Fido a lot more entertaining, but it never goes the full distance to be flat-out gory, sick, twisted, or even scary for that matter, and that’s one of the most disappointing factors of this could-have-been comedy-horror classic.

5 responses to “Halloween Horror Movie Month: Fido (2006)”

It may not have a ton of action or gore, but I still really love this film as a horror comedy. It plays with the 1950s style cliches really nicely and it’s pretty damn funny. The whole concept of the head burial/head coffin and the dad being obsessed with it cracked me up. Unusual roles for Carrie Anne Moss and Billy Connolly, although they’re both fantastic in them.

I scored this about the same, but the point of this film was never to scare. It’s more of a Leave it to Beaver story that just so happens to have zombies, as you said. I was hoping more could have been done with the concept, but it was still fun enough.

As you read in my review, I liked it for what it is. Like you, I felt it could have been so much more. I still won’t shy away from watching it again, though. Not every zombie film can be a gory horror flick, plus I love the 50s utopia they live in.

I liked Fido a lot. Actually for the same reasons you list here. It’s a great satire of 1950’s culture and television (Lassie, Leave it to Beaver, etc.). I also liked it as a zombie movie. I’m not really big into horror, especially when bloody and gory. Fido was tame enough to keep me from cringing and funny enough to keep me laughing.
I seem to have a Canadian printing of Fido: it says it’s rated “14 A,” which I assumed was the Canadian equivalent of PG-13. I think it’s PG-13 material; not too gory, and not too raunchy from what I remember. If you wanna call this a “horror” flick, it meets my tastes pretty well.
Great review!

Great review. I like the way you think. Personally, I think this movie has all the right things going for it. Amazing cast, great cinematography, unique premises and lots of laughs. I think it’s great to see a zombie-apocalypse movie where humanity is improved as a result. What would you do with your own zombie servant? I’d get him to fold laundry. I have laundry.

I also got the chance to review this movie on my Horror Movie Review blog. Take a look if you get a chance, I can always use some feedback from another critic.